Tale of the Fake Hero

The waves of power flowed into the stone before they could spread any farther.

As if a fiery hand were inscribing on the surface of the stone, flames flashed, and the fire left deeply engraved words in the dragon tongue in their wake as the stone flickered with golden light.

The process took quite some time.

「This is not an ordinary dragon spirit stone. It is one that contains the essence of myself, Yoshhar.」

Had the process exhausted him? Yoshhar’s white beard trembled as he held out the dragon spirit stone, radiating with a dazzling brilliance.

“Why are you doing this so much for me…?” Kaisen asked.

「Your question is difficult to answer.」

“I’m sorry.”

「It is fine. Olliere Dune Jeraye, leave us.」

Yoshhar waited for Olliere Dune Jeraye to exit and spoke after the door closed.

「Humans are amazing creatures. They love their children and even their children’s children without reason. The dragonkin were not blessed by the gods with such an inheritance of emotions.」

What was he talking about? Kaisen looked at Yoshhar. The expression on the dragonkin’s face was difficult to discern.

「To me, your mother, Raminea Alter Aradamantel, was like a child. Therefore, you are like my grandson.」

“What…?”

「What were your mother’s last days like?」

Again, Kaisen felt the sadness rising. The boy’s sorrow at losing something he could never have again ran deep. “She saved me… and left with a smile.”

「Hold on to that sadness tightly. A warrior turns their will into their power. Your sorrow will become your strength and lead your way.」

Yoshhar held out the dragon spirit stone.

Hesitantly, Kaisen took the stone with both hands. It was hot enough to burn his fingers but cold enough to emit a hazy glow.

「Know this… While the ritual is in progress, you must not lose consciousness.」

Following Yoshhar’s orders, Kaisen sat cross-legged in the center of the temple, right where ‘Mind’ was engraved in the dragon tongue.

Yoshhar sat back on the throne.

Surrounding Kaisen, wyvern priests in dragon form stood according to their hierarchy. The clanking of rosary beads and the cacophony of prayers rose in volume.

「Kest… Jer… Kendov… Nah… Muz… Qo… su… Vulon…」

Kaisen took a deep breath. The dragon spirit stone sent shooting pain through his hands before sinking into him.

“Ugh, Aaaaaahhhhh…!” More pain tore through his entire body.

A lump of hot power spread through him, running wild as if trying to rip apart his muscles and bones. The veins and arteries under his skin glowed red.

In the midst of his agony, he coughed up blood and had a funny thought. ‘Has the human body always been so weak? So much so that even a fragment of a dragon’s power is enough to break my tendons and joints?’

Clack, clack, clack, clack—

The rosary beads frantically shook, and the world broke in two, then three, and then reformed again and again. His whole body trembled as the cold hand of death reached out to him.

“Know this… While the ritual is in progress, you must not lose consciousness.”

Blood leaked from all of his orifices, but the boy did not relax his cross-legged pose.

‘It hurts, it hurts…’ He felt that the pain could kill him at any moment. His ears rang, his skin tore, and blood vessels burst to spout a mist of blood.

“Mom’s most precious treasure in the world…”

‘I… I will gain this power…’ He would cut and cut again… Until he avenged his ruined hometown in the wartorn southern land where his mother’s grave rested.

“After you become a Fake Warrior… let’s go together… so Kamila can rest next to her master…”

As the power of the dragon spirit stone burned through his body, as if it were about to explode, the boy’s body began to twist strangely—the muscles and bones became longer and stronger, and the power of a dragon danced in his blood.

Amidst the inexplicable pain, the color of his hair gradually began to fade to white, and a current of power surged around him.

「Kest… Jer… Kendov… Nah… Muz… Qo… su… Vulon…!」

In that storm, the hems of the robes of the priests reciting their last prayers fluttered wildly. That power was sucked into Kaisen’s body. For an instant, a silence descended on the temple.

The dazzling light that had been flickering also disappeared into the boy’s body.

「Truly…」 While Yoshhar took a tense breath, the boy let out a long exhale and slowly opened his eyes. His white hair fluttered before settling down.

A place far away, not here… His eyes were a brilliant gold color and held a far-off look, as if he were looking across the distant southern sea, where his lost hometown was located.

The priests exclaimed in shock.

「This is the first time I’ve seen such a clear gold color.」

「Does it mean that Lord Yoshhar’s lofty spirit resides in that small body?」

「Child of Raminea, how do you feel?」

Was… it over…?

Finally, as the painful wave of light and heat disappeared, Kaisen opened his mouth to speak.

‘Huh?’

But why was the world… Tilted sideways? Why… was the world… tilted…?

When he opened his eyes again, Kaisen was lying on a hospital bed in the infirmary. The sunlight stung his eyes.

“…?”

He opened his eyes, but for a moment he was shocked and had to blink several times. His vision was clear—clearer than it used to be.

He could focus on distant objects and see them in detail, and by releasing that focus, he could see everything.

That wasn’t all. A seemingly otherworldly strength was pulsating throughout his body. The waves of power were cool and calm, like a river.

“Are you awake?” Olliere Dune Jeraye stood at the head of his hospital bed.

“Instructor… I can see…”

“Yeah, you can see.” Olliere turned the mirror on the nightstand toward Kaisen.

Huh? His eyes in the mirror were shaking. In the morning sunlight, the dragon’s eyes sparkled with a golden light, and half of his hair turned gray. With golden eyes and white hair, he was a symbol of a Fake Warrior.

There were also great physical changes, and his muscular limbs were longer than before.

“You’re incredibly big, aren’t you? A Fake Warrior is normally around six feet, and those who happen to be close to seven feet tall appear sometimes. Your height is well over seven feet. I’d wager you’re almost as tall as a Hai-tark chief.”

Was it because he was a man? No way.

He guessed the difference was between the dragon spirit of a Sage Dragon and a wyvern. It was understandable when you looked at the height difference between Sage Dragons and wyverns.

“Instructor, Is… Is this… success, was it… a success?” His breathing was ragged.

In his memory, his mother’s eyes sparkled like his. Just as Kamila’s hair was pure white, so was his. Was that why? It finally dawned on him that he’d been following in those two’s footsteps…

A shiver ran down his spine as Olliere nodded and smiled. “Yes. Congratulations. Kaisen, you are the first male Fake Warrior… This will turn the world upside down, won’t it?”

“!”

“Now then, go and see how your body changed.”

* * *

“You guys have learned all the swordsmanship and fighting techniques you need to learn as Fake Warriors in the past one, two, or three years,” Kelly Dun Jeraye said.

It was the final class of batch 997, and only four students, including Kaisen, stood before her. The other thirteen had died, unable to withstand the power of the dragon spirit stone.

“Now, all that remains is training that only a Fake Warrior can complete. No, rather than training, I should say it is about a change in perception.”

“Dear Instructor!” Isla raised her hand. She was the disciple of Runelle Alter Gaurmis, who was killed in the siege of Terbenople. She had also survived and had golden eyes. “According to Isla’s memories, this training is already complete!”

“What a phenomenal memory you have.”

“Thank you for the compliment!”

“I’m being sarcastic. Out of respect for your stupidity, I’ll let you go through this training first. Isla, go stand at the starting line.”

It was essentially a balancing exercise. A huge hole was dug deep in the ground, and five bamboo poles were placed within. If they lost their balance or focus, the bamboo would break, and the cadet would fall.

“Are you making fun of Isla? Isla can do this with her eyes closed!”

“There is no need to close your eyes. Just jump over to the other side.”

“?”

“Your bodies have already surpassed the human level. This is a class that will help you adjust your physical perception. Now, go ahead and jump!”

Kaisen saw Isla hesitate for a moment, then she bounced her body into the air with a slight leap.

‘Huh…?’

It was clearly a simple jump, but it was powerful. Soon, Isla landed on the other side of the pit on her butt.

“Hh…?”

“What just…?”

The cadets of class 997th next to Kaisen were shocked.

“Did you see it?! Did you see it?! This is Isla’s power!”

Even Kelly Duen Jeraye had a hard time keeping her mouth from twitching as Isla bounced around with her adorable little body. “You saw it, right? What you will learn over the next three weeks is to clearly recognize the potential your new bodies have. Seira, you are next.”

The other two members of class 997 also showed off their transcendental physical abilities, jumping over the pit in a single bound.

Kaisen was amazed. He felt good and gained confidence from the success of his classmates that he could do the same.

Kelly nodded. “Lastly, Kaisen, come on… Show them the power of history’s first male Fake Warrior.”

Isla’s eyes lit up.

Seira, the disciple of Arecia Alter Solang, who had also participated in the siege of Terbenople, narrowed her eyes in focus.

“Really…?” Kaisen took two or three steps back before kicking the ground hard and launched himself over the pit.

“…?!”

“…?!”

“…?!”

The cadets couldn’t believe their eyes.

Even Kelly took off her glasses (which she kept wearing due to a flaw in her body modification), wiped them with her uniform sleeve, and put them on again.

“Kaisen, are you okay?”

The hero of the miracle was groaning and pulling himself up from the mud at the bottom of the pit—he hadn’t even been able to clear half of the pit.

Following the unprecedented situation (even though it was an unprecedented situation for a man to become a Fake Warrior), all the instructors gathered.

“Kaisen, try again,” Olliere Dune Jeraye said. She had rushed over after hearing Kelly’s report about an abnormal phenomenon.

“His physical abilities have not improved?”

“Yes. He only had normal leg strength.”

Kaisen’s gray hair was already covered in mud, and his training clothes were also thickly soaked.

“Here I go.” He took two or three steps back again. The moment he prepared to jump…

“Stop!” Olliere shouted.

The 997th cadets looked at the chief instructor in bewilderment.

Ollier skillfully jumped over the pit and landed next to Kaisen. “It’s strange… the power of the dragon tongue is not activated in your Mana Chain.”

Mana Chain was a chain of power that swordsmen used to circulate their mana through their bodies. Fake Warriors took it a step further and imbued the chain with the power of the dragon tongue.

If one were to look into the magical power within a Fake Warrior’s body, it’d be normal to see a golden chain tightly wrapping around their mind and body.

“Kaisen, do you remember the feeling you had when activating your sword?”

“I can’t do it perfectly yet… but I remember.”

“Try to replicate it.”

“You mean now?”

“Yes, now.”

It felt ridiculous to activate sword aura without a sword in hand, but the boy concentrated.

As a hazy radiance rose and glowed from his body, Olliere’s shocked eyes felt as if they were burning.

‘What…?’ It was unnatural how much her eyes stung.

Was his power that dazzling?